The official from the department of Horticulture said an amount will be transferred to the bank account of each beneficiary for Potato growers in Odisha's Kandhamal district who suffered losses
due to wilting of crops during the lastKharifseason will be compensated.
Officials said the state government sanctioned a compensation amount of ₹ 23,100 per hectare recently.

Sukanta Subudhi an Deputy Director of Horticulture (DDH) asked potato farmers to provide their bank account
details. As many as 497 farmers of around 100 villages in Daringibadi and
Tumudibandh blocks had cultivated the tuber on 137 hectares. They had raised
potato on an experimental basis under the state government's Mission Potato.

The farmers had got input subsidies and technical support from the horticulture
directorate, officials said. In a major jolt to the mission, almost entire
crops in these two blocks had wilted within a month of the cultivation due to
suspected sub-standard seeds, which had been procured from the National Seeds
Corporation.Even though the farmers applied pesticides according to the advice
of experts, the crops could not be revived. The farmers had demanded
compensation. The district administration had taken up the matter with the
government with Kandhamal Collector Yamini Sarangi seeking compensation to the
potato growers.

After prolonged discussion, the government released the amount. We hope the amount will compensate the farmers loss, said the DDH. The farmers raised the crops taking loans from Primary Agriculture
Cooperative Societies (PACSs). The administration had provided subsidised seeds
at ₹ 1,150 per quintal through PACSs, official sources said.